Quandary

A Brawl With The Past

We kept walking and walking, forcing ourselves under the pain of the sun. I hoped that this situation would turn out fine in the end. My mind kept falling on the revelation Braxton had just told me. That he could see the fake people. Was someone following him around right now? Was someone that I couldn't see right by his side, whispering thoughts of doubt to him?

"Braxton..." I began.

He looked over his shoulder and gazed at me.

"Who is the person that you see?"

"My uncle."

His uncle? I then remembered what Hailey told me. That Braxton's uncle beat his mother. It must be terrible to have to see someone like that around you all the time... I felt sorrow when thinking about Braxton's position. He struggled so much more than I thought.

"Hey Don..." Began Braxton.

I was pulled out of my head and back into the real world.

"Who do you see?"

I struggled to reply to that question. I couldn't just tell him that a fake version of his girlfriend was following me around all the time. He'd start asking questions... He'd catch on and then- At that moment a car began zooming down the road.

"Hey! Driver!"

I waved my arms in the air rapidly. The car showed no sign of slowing down. I ran into the middle of the road, waving my arms around faster. The car slowed to a stop within an instant. I ran up to the driver's window. It rolled down as I prepared myself.

"We seem to have gotten a bit lost, could you drive us back to a hotel? It's not too far from here."

The man in the car looked at me with an annoyed and excoriated expression.

"I ain't driving nobody for free."

I panicked, none of us had money. What were we going to do?

"Back pocket dingus." Spoke the fake Hailey.

I reached into my back pocket and felt the money that my mother had given me. I pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and waved it before his eyes.

"Is this enough?"

"Twenty dollars is nothing, I'm not that cheap."

I pulled out another twenty dollar bill and held it out to him. He raised an eyebrow at me in a precarious manner.

"Just how much money do you have on you?"

Me and Braxton ended up getting a ride back to the hotel. I had to pay the man all of the one hundred dollars I had on me. My parents are going to kill me when I get back from this trip.

"Are you insane?!" Barked a teacher at us when we told him of how we made our way back.

"What were we supposed to do? There was no cell service."

The teacher looked down at the ground worryingly.

"At least you two didn't get hurt... Besides, we can't blame you completely... Two kids ran off the bus to grab something they had forgotten and then came back on, messing up our headcount."

The teachers talked with us for quite a while, talking about what we could have and should have done better. How we should be more responsible in the future. I tuned their voices out though. The whole time I was wondering how Braxton was handling things. Was his uncle here? Was a fake version of his uncle messing with him right now? How could I know?

"Don!"

I turned around in the midst of the hotel lobby. It was Hailey who had called out my name. Standing beside her was Barry. The two looked deeply worried.